Birds of Prey
by Kelly Riker
Summary: Faced with someone supposedly dead, add in heartache, broken promises and a person that is called The Vulture, who actually acts like his namesake equals the hardest mission Hawkeye and Black Widow have ever taken on, but this time, the Avengers won't let them go alone. Will this spider and bird ever love again and gather enough strength to face tomorrow?
1. Chapter 1

A hawk was protective of its nest and are extremely territorial creatures, which was just plain truth. Everyone knows that, but Hawks are also protective of their young and their kill. They are birds of prey, skilled in the art of killing, and they hardly ever EVER miss their prey. If they did, it's quite unheard of at all.

Director Fury stared at the metal walkway, where Agent Barton was hiding.

"Agent Barton, get down here now." He told him, glaring at the assassin.

A quiet but firm 'No.' was heard from the dark depths. It brought the remaining Avengers to their feet and they stared at him. Steve was wearing a look of disproval, Tony was desperately trying not to laugh, Bruce was grumbling about wanting to return to his lab, while Thor was sharing Steve's look.

"I will not ask again, Agent Barton. Come down." Fury ground the heel of his boot as he stomped towards where a metal ladder bolted to the ground was once been. "You removed the ladder?!"

"I like my privacy." A soft but quite firm voice wafted down to the members. The two assassins had been fine up to that morning, the two had disappeared and no one had seen them since.

"I will not ask again, Barton. Come down now." The one good eye of Fury's still glared at the hidden man, as he put a stern emphasis on that last word.

"No." Barton told him, his usual 'cool as a cucumber' voice was heard, but under it you could have sworn that it was laced heavily with pain and anguish.

Agent Hill walked into the room just then, noting the way Fury glared at the hidden Archer. Sighing she handed the man a clipboard of papers, along with a note from the communications department.

Reading it, Fury gave in to the assassin, knowing that neither he nor Natasha would show their faces today. "Alright Barton, I expect you down from their tomorrow or else."

"Understood." You couldn't see it, but the archer was perched on the metal grate, fingering a bow, similar to his but on a smaller scale, almost like it was made for a child.

By the time Tony had arrived in his home from another one of his press conferences, the moon had already reached its zenith, meaning it was late, like three o'clock am late. As he walked by the floors he had given to the other Avengers, he heard loud cursing in many languages, but it was mostly Russian.

As he neared the door, Jarvis spoke. "Sir, I strongly recommend you do not enter. Ms. Romanoff is quite upset."

"Upset about what, Jarvis?" Tony asked, showing unaccustomed caring about another person beside himself.

"It is better if you do not know, sir. She has told me to not let anyone in, not even if you turn me off and bypass codes." Jarvis replied, just as smoothly.

"Alright, but that doesn't mean I can't find out on my own." Tony smiled thinking of the challenge.

"Sir, it is better to leave well enough alone." Jarvis knew what his master was going to do and didn't like it one bit.

Inside the room, the angry yelling had stopped, now you could only hear singing, the kind that reminded Tony of a mother singing her child to sleep. He couldn't understand the words but he heard the deep sorrow in Natasha's voice.

Tony wasn't sure if he was more afraid of this weeping and, singing Natasha or the one that could single handily kill you in a split second if she wanted to.

Natasha slumped to the ground, her legs collapsing as all the anger left her, leaving the red haired Russian to cry as she sang a Russian Lullaby. It was one her mother sang her when she was little. Her room was in ruins, empty vodka bottles littering the floor, but she either didn't notice or care. The woman was no longer an agent that could take down the hardest of targets, now she was a woman, a human being full of pain and sorrow as she stared out of the glass window. Tears fell softly as she sang.

As the Russian words fell off her tongue, her voice got stronger. Memories flew in that room, making her cry harder, clutching herself as if she were in pain. She saw a woman cradle a pink wrapped bundle with pride and joy swimming in her eyes, she saw a man with a long scar taking the bundle as she heard screaming and pleading in her ears.

She saw a battle fought and lost, saw a man with a bow raced towards the injured woman, panic in his eyes. She saw all of these pictures, the noise of gunshots ringing in her ears as she heard a child wailing with fright.

As Natasha Romanoff curled up into herself, she whispered words, sounding so heartbroken and dejected you wouldn't recognize her from a battle hard solider. "I'm so sorry…моя девочка…"(my baby girl)

Tony and the other Avengers watched, as Natasha and Clint entered the meeting the next day, almost as if nothing the day before had happened.

Nick Fury cleared his throat, pulling up a holographic representation of a man with a scar running from his left eyebrow down to his right cheek. "This is your target. He's heavily guarded, and goes by the name of The Vulture. SHIELD has been looking for this man for almost nine years. We got close to him once in Budapest, but he slipped through the fingers of Agents Romanoff and Barton."

At the name of the man, both Agents leaned forward discarding their bored expressions, now their faces were determined and something in them that made their teammates scared.

As the meeting closed, the Avengers slid out of the room, going to prepare for the next mission, but Steve Rogers stopped just outside, as he heard Fury telling the two best people for the job.

"Agents Barton, Romanoff, you two are grounded until further notice." He told them, knowing the risks if he had let those two out.

"Sir?" Natasha asked, confusion in her green eyes. "We know what he's liable to do. We are the only ones that can make this mission a success."

"That's not why I'm grounding you two. You will be too emotionally involved, not thinking clearly. I know that you want to finish what happened nin years ago in Budapest, but I need you to stick this one out." Fury tried to have them see his side of the argument.

"And I'm telling you; off the charts that is a load of horse crap." Clint shot back, storm grey eyes flashing dangerously.

"Agent Barton, I understand why you feel this way, but my answer is firm. You two are staying here." Nick Fury turned and left, trench coat flapping and boot heels clicking.

The Next morning, Hawkeye and Black Widow met their team on the tarmac. Steve raised an eyebrow questionably seeing their gear on their backs.

"Weren't you grounded, Bird Brain, Spider?" Tony asked his suite clanking as he walked upwards.

"We're going whether Fury lets us or not. We have some unfinished business with the Vulture." Natasha spoke, walking up the gang plank and into the Quinjet.

"If I'm going to allow you two to come with, I need to know why Fury grounded you." Steve told them, seeing the almost pleading look in their eyes. He had never seen anything close to that in the two members and seeing it made his throat go dry and hands start to be clamming.

"That's unimportant." Clint told him, facing the Avengers leader.

"There was something that happened nine years ago, Barton and Vulture had something to do with it. Now you may want us to believe you, but we're your friends and we can't protect or understand the whole situation unless you tell us."

Clint and Natasha shared a look, a conversation in that split second, long enough to debate and agree. "We'll tell you, but let's get into the air. I want to get this over and done with before you decide we have to sit out also."

"Alright." Steve agreed, nodding as he let the two into the cockpit.

"We weren't the only ones sent on that mission nine years ago. It started out as a vacation of sorts, with us going undercover to infiltrate a fertidally clinic but Fury began to notice odd happenings to the orphans that were adopted, nearby. All by shading characters, saying that their boss felt the need to provide a home for those motherless children, nothing was odd about that until we realized all of those children were under the age of thee.

"We got in and found out that he was really the Vulture and using the children in experiments of sorts, to find a gene that would aid him in selecting the single strand of what he called Fey blood, something that he claimed would aid him to finding the cure for any known illness." Natasha told them, as the Quinjet barreled towards Scotland.

The rest of the team was shocked by the information, and disgusted by the fact that a single man would cause hundreds of children's deaths all in the name of research. It left a foul taste in even of the fiercest of warriors.

"We were on the mission for about sixteen weeks, when Vulture found us and took our daughter, Merida. He took her in the dead of the night, setting the building with the orphans in it ablaze, along with Merida. We tried to reach her, but Vulture had hundreds of grulla soldiers stopping anyone that tried to reach the children." Natasha stopped, as she stared out into the sky, blinking away tears.

"Merida wasn't even supposed to be in that village, much less that building. We guessed that there was a leak in net, a double agent, but we never found them. Not even a trance of her when the fire had been put out." Clint's voice broke; something no one was expecting. "She would have been fifteen on the twenty-sixth."

The Avengers were not expecting that much truth and blatant honesty from the two of them. They told numerous lies their whole life, they killed people in a blink without even considering the problems, but now they were barely themselves at the thought of one little girl. A girl that they called daughter, a child that bore their blood and that died when they couldn't figure out a way to save her.

When they arrived in DunBroch, the six heroes headed out to scout for the secret camp of the Vulture.

"He likes to make base where there's a ruin or something grand. Vulture likes to make his victims live out their deepest fears, so expect anything to happen." Clint told them, notching an arrow.

"Alright, let's get this over and done with. Hawk, we're going to need eyes on the sky." The Captain told him, sending out their jobs. "Stark, are there any kinds of ruins about? Romanoff, Thor, and Banner, spread out, but stay down. We don't want him to know we're here before we get information." Steve signaled them to spread, blending into the trees as he stepped into shadows.

Tony peered at all of the data he was getting. "Alright, I've got a castle on the south side of this hill, and some stone circle on the North Side. My guess would be the castle; it's more protected, open areas and presents formable defenses."

When they arrived at the castle, the two agents worked their way pass all of the guards surrounding the place, by running from one pile of rubble to the next. They found the Vulture in what appeared to be a throne room, looking like a terrible battle had been the fall and destruction of the stone building. Making their way through the rooms, Clint and Natasha found themselves a perch from the upper levels, but hidden from view. Allowing the two to listen and watch whatever the Vulture did.

They reported back the many things the man did, not having a clue why he was treating the young children with him like they were gold. The man that sat in the ancient looking throne had white hair, tousled like he had run his fingers through it a lot, a black suite, with a pure white tie, startling out of place.

Just then a hooded figure walked in, the younger ones parting like Moses and the Red Sea. Whoever it was walked with a grace that betrayed her small frame. A black wooden recurve bow was slung over her back, alongside with a quiver of arrows.

The old man spotting the new arrival grinned, spreading his arms wide. "Eagle, so glad that you could come back so soon, how was your little vacation?"

"As to be expected." A young female voice came from the depths of the hood, as she stared at the old man. "What mission do you want me to go on next, Vulture. That's the only reason why you call me here to your ruins." The voice had a mocking tone, full of disgust and spite.

"Watch your tone, Eagle. I saw the potential in you, but that doesn't mean I can't get along without you again." Vulture's voice got hard, as he shot a look at the oldest of the children, and they all started to file out of the great hall.

Once they were gone, Eagle watched the Vulture, feeling like there was someone behind her. But she gave no indication as she tried to work out their location. "Why have you called me back, Vulture. You claimed, that I was free for good. This wasn't part of the deal."

"I've changed the terms, get over it, Eagle. I have been informed that S.H.E.I.L.D has been looking for you. Well you need a place to hide and I need a good archer." Vulture sneered at the girl, dropping the act of being nice.

"If you only need a 'good' archer, find someone else. I've had my fill of your dirty work, when you started to send me on those missions." Eagle turned to the door, walking with her back to the man. Pausing as her hand was on the lever, she turned slightly and told him, her voice full of disgust and pain. "Let SHEILD come, they'll be doing this world some good getting rid of you. I might have killed and captured who you told me to, but those days are over with, Vulture. I've got things to do."

"By things, if you are talking about your parents, Eagle. Then the only way you'll be reunited again, is if you accept my offer." The Vulture held up a bag of things, speaking to her once he was sure that he got her full attention. "Listen well, Eagle. SHEILD will be sending their best agents, which means the Avengers. I don't care what you do with them, but keep them busy and I want the Hawk and Widow dead before I let you go."

Turning around, Eagle shook her head, giving the man a long look. Her posture was stiff and it looked like she was physically holding herself back from launching herself at the man. "You know as well as I do, that I won't be your puppet, Vulture. You've got goons and children for that. I go as I please, I come when I please, and I do NOT take orders from a thief, a mass murderer, child hording…говешка."(Piece of Shit)

"Watch your tongue, you mongrel!" Vulture's voice went from that sickly sweet that he had and went to hard and dangerous in a split second. "I have clothed you, fed you, and taken you in when your parents left you to die! And you repay my generosity with insults and death threats. I can and will have you punished Eagle Black-Hawk!"

Standing even straighter, Eagle spat forth Russian words, quickly. Turning on her heel and slamming through the door. "Моя мать не оставил меня, Вы взяли меня!" (My mother didn't leave me, you took me!)

Natasha and Clint watched as the woman leave, growling threats in Russian, like that was her first language. But when she switched to English, she only had a small accent. They had recorded the whole conflict and silently left the way they came. Half way to the exit, they were face to face with an angry hooded figure that they recognized as Eagle.

Getting ready to subdue the woman, she grinned and held her hands up. "Peace! I'm not going to hurt you. You come from the Eagle's Ledge, presumably to inform your friends about me being a threat."

"What do you want?" Natasha asked, warily, her hand slipping for a hidden knife.

"I want to help you guys. I know this castle better than anyone. There are thousands of places that are like that Ledge, but only I can navigate them safely and without triggering any traps. I'm surprised you didn't set off a claymore or two." Eagle told them, ruefully.

"In return for what, being able to find your parents? The death of the Vulture? Your freedom?" Clint asked, finally speaking since meeting the smaller form.

"I highly doubt my parents are even alive. The Vulture made sure of that when I was younger. I only want to be a normal person. I'm sick of the hiding and watching your back from everyone."

"Lead us out of here safely and we'll talk with the rest of the team."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

**Outcast **

As Eagle led the two agents through the forest, walking silently she kept the two off the trails, but also away from the many patrols that went through the foliage. Eagle paused on the outskirts of the clearing that Clint had told her about, spotting the Quinjet, she faced the two.

"Go past these trees and you'll be in your camp. I will meet you at the Stone circle tomorrow night." She pointed to the direction in the opposite direction, towards where the sun was currently setting. "I go through these woods a lot, but the only safe path is south of the oak tree-ridge. Vulture is too proud of his forces to concern himself that far out."

Clint nodded his head, crouching near the shadows where Eagle hid, asking their guide one last thing before heading towards his teammates. "There anything else we need to know?"

"Watch for the dogs. They'll be set loose every night to make sure none of us, particularly whenever Vulture gets wind of the activity going on. I'm only allowed to go as far as the oak trees, any farther and Vulture knows I'm trying to leave." Eagle handed the lone man a medallion. "Hang this in clear view of the castle; friends of mine will know you search for me."

With those words, Eagle vanished as silently as she came. You wouldn't know she had been there except for the medallion hanging from Clint's hand. Walking into camp, Clint noticed that Natasha had briefed their teammates on their strange ally, Eagle.

"We need to tell Fury about this. Having Eagle on our side would greatly improve our chances." Natasha told them, as Clint appeared at her side nodding in agreement.

"What else can you tell me about this 'Eagle'?" Steve asked, still on the fence about Eagle's sincerity.

"She's as much of a prisoner there as the children. She didn't say it in as many words, but her actions claimed that she was helping Vulture against her wishes." Clint told him, remembering the desperation in her eyes, when her hood slipped once.

"Gather the team, I want everyone's opinion before I notify the Director." Steve finally said, rubbing the back of his neck.

Once all of the six had joined, Clint and Natasha retold their story from watching as Eagle tried to find a way not to help Vulture to her leading them safely out of the rubble. Taking out the Vulture was the hard part, no matter where or who he was with, he had surrounded himself with guards and children. For this to work, they would need to go in under the darkness of night.

Eagle threaded her way carefully through the forgotten levels of the old DunBroch Castle. The halls where she walked was littered with rat carcasses, four legged and two alike. The stench was nearly unbearable, but the sloshing water filled with bones and bloated bodies were worse.

Eagle didn't hesitate in laying her bow in a bag, by the dry stone steps, taking deep breaths before plunging into the water, as she dove deeper; she headed towards a large barricade. Trying to move the different slabs of stone and metal, Eagle slowly but quickly cleared the pile, going up for air every bit in a while. When a hole was big enough for her to fit herself through, she went to the surface, grabbed her waterproof bag and propelled herself into the ancient crypt.

The water was murky, but she swam surely and swiftly, holding her breath.. Eagle was tired of the way The Vulture treated her, being bossed around like she was nothing more than a beast of burden. She had tried to escape many times, but every time she had barely gotten past the over vigilant guards. They and everyone else knew she tried to fly away like the bird she was so aptly named after, but every time Vulture clipped her wings a little more. But not this time, this time with help from Hawkeye, she would finally be freed, able to fly once again.

As she swam steadily through the water, she felt her fingers meet the old entryway to the prison. Yes, you had to go past rows of dead kings to get there, and yes again the old rulers played with the minds of their prisoners. It was the only explanation she had for that little detail. Vulture knew what made her tick, keeping what she sought most out of her reach, no matter how she tried to get it.

Most of the children, ranging from about fifteen to the youngest of three years, they shared a common threat in their eyes. Vulture was their savior and Eagle was ridicules for denying Vulture's gifts. They found her to be below them, pushing her away and making her an outcast among outcasts.

As her head broke through the surface, Eagle watched as the water created shifting patterns on the walls, calming her instantly. Putting her bag on the stone, she pushed herself out of the water, shaking out her cloak and pushing strands of wet red hair off her forehead.

The room, which she found herself in was round, quite large, not even being able to see the other wall from where she stood. The pool of water was in the center, which was the only entrance beside a large gap in the wall she was facing. The walls had torches placed in holders, none of them were lit, but those things didn't bother Eagle. She walked through the dark, leaving puddles in her wake, heading past the gap and disappearing from view.

Underneath the castle were caves, halls, and another world. The pass through the castle had been riddled with rubble, and the only way to enter was through the crypt except for an entrance at the Stone Circle. None knew of this, but Eagle, having found this hide away by accident. Vulture had wanted her to enter the water and find him a fabled sword, when she didn't obey, he had pushed her in, a girl not yet ten to swim. The sword which she searched for had claimed to be a great King's once, and whoever bore it in their hands held the world's power in their hands. Being the greedy, diabolical thinker that he was, Vulture had to have that sword, so he made the thorn in his side to go down and not come back unless it was found.

And that was the day, a young fledgling tried to fly, but found her wings soon to be clipped. Her opinion of Vulture had changed from a loving but eccentric protector to an insane man wanting to have the world bow to only him. That day marked the end of Eagle's innocence and blind following, turning her athletic abilities to helping her become a warrior, calculating, and she took to the shadows. Always watching, but never seen.

Weaving her way through a pitch black Labyrinth and making her entrance into a small but carefully decorated burrow, away from the prying eyes and unwelcome stares. This was the only place she had felt even a smidgen of safety. The room wasn't much, only holding a chest, a bed, and several wooden pegs driven into the stone. Moth eaten blankets and broken or discarded furniture, stains and what-not on the fabric and wood, but it suited her purposes. What others saw as being needed to be thrown away, no longer use full to them, Eagle took it, asking for it, and then fixing it up. Most of the servants believed her odd, but harmless so they gave her what she asked for. The children on the other hand thought of her in the same context as they thought of the plague, avoiding it at all costs. The many soldiers, thugs, and guards around the place saw her as a shadow, always there but doing nothing, they didn't believe the stories Vulture claimed that she had done.

There were several ratty-looking threadbare blankets with more holes then patches. The bed-frame was made of mismatched wood, hazardly tied together with rope. It was sturdier then it looked, actually. The pillow happened to be made of corn husks and a burlap bag. Nothing hung from the walls, except a fur lined robe, hanging from one of the two wooden pegs driven into a crack of stone. At the foot of the bed and against a wall sat a broken and splintering padlocked chest, who's lock was rusting and broken. Heading towards it, the girl grabbed a pile of dry clean clothes.

Taking off her wet cloak, Eagle revealed fire red hair pulled into a single long braid. A black tank-top with thick straps clung to her body, exposing a bare mid-rift. Her pants were old army issued cargo pants, sitting on her hips being held up by a leather belt and ammo clips. Black combat boots completed the look, along with her quiver and bow that were in the water proof bag. Changing her clothes to black pajama pants and another tank-top this time a deep purple, Eagle grabbed the fur from the wall.

Crystal blue eyes with hints of green and brown shone through the fur as she settled herself on the bed. She had a smattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks, contrasting deeply with her tan skin.

**~BIRDS OF PREY~**

_A/N: Well can you guess who Eagle is really now? I know this chapter wasn't mostly action, but I wanted to get the feel of Eagle's predicament first, that way it makes more sense to her actions latter on. She's not a really bad nor good character, but someone that wants to do good, but can't without getting things done to her._

_Will the Avengers agree to her help? Will Vulture find out about her helping the enemy? Will our two spies live with the upcoming shock of their lives? That's next in…Birds of Prey!_


End file.
